APB Archives

OH NO! NOT AGAIN!! (Dec 21, 03)

YOU THOUGHT THEY WENT AWAY (Oct 20 03)

-
Just recently, Al Stasukevich and I got a request to meet with Affirmed Housing Group's staff, to talk about a project in City Heights. You remember Affirmed Housing. They and Boston Capital Corporation converted Fox Hollow to Hollywood Palms, under the guidance of a citizen task force. That was after the prior developer was chased off the job by the neighbors in Hollywood Park, Azalea Park, Ridgeview, and Swan Canyon. The task force did such a good job that the project won an award for excellence.
-
You remember that Affirmed Housing wasn't very helpful in bringing Boston Capital Corporation to its senses, and less less helpful about dragging Hollywood Palms out of the mess it had become what it should be. A lot of good things were done, some weren't done, and overall the task force had to push, pull, pry, wheedle, threaten, and otherwise manipulate Affirmed and Boston Capital to get the project done right. We shouldn't have had to do that. Affirmed and Boston Capital should have done the job right in the first place.
-
It appears that Affirmed and Boston Capital haven't paid one bit of attention to what happened to them at Hollywood Palms. They now want to come back to City Heights with another project [80 or so units]. They don't want to talk about their attitude toward City Heights during the Hollywood Palms saga. It appears that they want to bring the same management company, Solari, from Orange County. Solari filled half of Hollywood Palms with people from outside City Heights, rather than with our neighbors. It looks like there are some serious failures at Hollywood Palms from Solari's management. A lot of turnover has occurred in the past year or so, much of it by eviction. Good apartment managers don't have a lot of turnover and rarely have to resort to eviction. Something's not right.
-
My own inclination was to tell Affirmed and Boston Capital to take their project to an affluent area North of Balboa Avenue where there are great schools, large parks, playgrounds, organized sports, good shopping, all the nice things. Poor people should be able to enjoy some of life's nice things too.
-
This isn't a firm project yet. Affirmed has talked to everyone and his brother, except the community, of course, trying to drum up support for coming back into City Heights. I don't think Affirmed or Boston Capital has learned the lessons of Hollywood Palms. Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me.
-

THE LATEST MANEUVERING (Dec 21, 03)

-
It's rumor, of course, but Affirmed has turned its attention to the local area groups and to the Redevelopment Project Area Committee, which is the pathway to Affirmed getting its hands on some of our redevelopment money. I would hope Affirmed takes a positive tack, admits that it left a mess at Hollywood Palms, admit that it didn't keep its promise to let the CHCDC be the agency to actually manage Hpalms (Solari has de facto control), admits that, once it got a temporary certificate of occupancy and could begin renting units, it paid no attention whatever to the Oversight Committee that the city council appointed. Affirmed Housing Group and Boston Capital Corporation and Solari are not, in my judgment, fit to be developers in City Heights.
-